Veranstaltungen

Since the start of Sudan’s December 2018 revolution and the overthrow of President al-Bashir in April 2019, competing struggles have been going on between supporters of the ousted Islamist regime and those of the revolutionary movement. Before the war broke out, weekly protests against the military coup of April 2023 took place across the country, calling for a civilian government. Confronted with setbacks, violence and death, a growing sense of frustration spread among the protestors, hampering efforts to maintain a sense of change. The memory of the revolutionaries who had been killed played a central role in these marches and commemorations. Slogans about martyrs filled revolutionary poems, songs, wall inscriptions and murals.

In her talk, Valerie Hänsch will focus on the visual depiction of martyrs and the practices of mourning and commemorating protesters killed in the post-coup demonstrations. She explores how martyrs were imagined and cultivated, but also contested, by examining aesthetic practices that bind people and values together, and create commitments and affective bonds between protesters.